Well the last couple of days have really put me under the bus. First off, a really bad, bad spring fever. This year’s weather is like a teenage girl’s mood, one day it’s sunshine in the 80s — the next it’s 40s and pouring. Wait if we’re going to have any snow in the summer. But anyway, the weather makes it really difficult to fix the second problem that I got myself into.

So as the title implies, I have a Toyota Corrola that just broke down at the same time I was sick (bad luck always comes in three).

I was driving and doing all the things guys do while driving, like cursing at the next idiot who can’t drive properly. Then out of the sudden karma stroke. As I gently accelerated to 35 the car stalled itself with no throttle for a mere second and I could have sworn I felt a mini earthquake under the hood before it’s back to normal again. The only difference now is that it’d take two red bull before I could turn the damn steering wheel. Plus it’s 80s out and the AC stopped working.

It turned out the nut that holds the serpentine belt’s tensioner sheared off from the motor. That means the belt is completely loosened without the tensioner in place; and the water pump, the delightful A/C, Power steering and the rest of all the crap that make a modern car modern are simply dead.

Then the third issue is, this bolt breaks right at the beginning of the thread so a part of it still stuck on the engine block and hidden under a jungle of wires/metal stuffs that I’m so certain that I’d kill myself if I made in contact with any of them. That means there is no way to get it out easily. Look at the picture below and you’ll understand why.

It’s the 17mm bolt (pivot bolt) that goes to the engine block. The 19mm is one you use to adjust the belt.

Now long story short, I brought it to the nearby auto shop. It was a scary ride because there was nothing to cool the radiator (haha those liquid coolers for CPU is nothing!) and the heatwave that day only made life worse. They looked at it, shook head and gave me an estimate of $1200 and a week to fix this problem. I totally expected that price tag because it seemed pretty serious to me, but being a stubborn head I was like heck no. So I drove it home and as soon as the car made it to the parking spot, it’s dead. It was running on the battery the whole time anyway.

Fortunately, I looked up some information online and it turns out a bunch of other people have the same freaking issue (design flaw?). Some says if you could find a mechanic who isn’t afraid of welding the rest of the bolt out it won’t be too hard, the only thing is he’ll have to separate the engine from the body. That means he won’t be able to do it at my home and this car would need a lift. Mooore $ !

So I took advice from this thread and tried it myself (and succeeded!). Here are what you need:

The Works

1. Start taking off bolts that hold the marked parts below. Don’t disconnect any fluid holders, you only need to clear the way to raise the motor a little bit and make room for the drilling later. Remove the serpentine belt.

2. Now with the passenger’s side engine mount off, you can raise the motor up a little bit on this side. I put a towel in between to ease the point of contact.

3. Once the engine is raised properly, it should tilt up like this. Then you can start removing the tensioner itself. You should be able to recover the broken bolt, a washer, the tensioner and another nut.

4. Locate the rest of the broken bolt that stuck on the engine block. Set your drill forward and use the aforementioned drill bit (1) to dig a hole into the broken part.

6. The screw extractor now should be able to stay by itself. Use a wrench and slowly turn it counterclockwise to remove the left over part. You may struggle with this a little bit but keep going.

7. Got it out! This sucker is worth $1200 in this case.

8. Bring this bolt to a Toyota Parts store and they should be able to find you a replacement for $10 –Part number 90105-12297 (eBay link).

Here’s a picture of a new one & the old one. Put everything back in reverse order and you just saved yourself $1000 or maybe more.

A new & shiny screw installed!

Here’s a diagram of the serpentine belt fyi.

Ready to be back on the road again like her sister (right) :D !

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38 Comments

January 16, 2019

Gary

Thanks so much for this information. I was able to get this bolt out using the exact bits shown in this article from Home Depot. I thought this was going to be a nightmare and torches and rethreading the bolt turns out easier than expected. This saved the day for my 2000 Toyota Corolla.

Fabulous write up. I thought that I was TOTALLY screwed when the tensioner arm bolt broke. You were lucky to get away with a #1 extractor. I drilled a 5/16 hole in the bolt, used a #5 screw extractor, and the bolt wouldn’t even budge. I didn’t want to break the extractor off (worst of all possibilities), so I did some web research and came across CNC Freeze Off Super Penetrant. It’s supposed to have a refrigerant in it to contract the bolt and allow the penetrant to seep into the threads. It’s reddish in color so it may also have an ATF type penetrant. I know that a lot of people use ATF mixed with Acetone. Anyway, I sprayed some of this on a warmed up engine, waited a couple of minutes, and the bolt came out so easily I initially thought the extractor was slipping. I COULD NOT BELIEVE HOW WELL THIS STUFF WORKED! I was a complete PB Blaster groupie before this and no I have no association with CRC. It’s just great when you come across something that actually made the job easier.

Well, thank you for sharing this informative blog to fix the serpentine belt of the car and make it perfect to drive. As the lower bolt for the serpentine belt tensioner broke off due to torquing it down so be careful while doing this. Remove the belt using a deep socket and a ratchet with a cheater bar for extra leverage on that “pulley bolt” and roll the spring loaded tensioner assembly counterclockwise and slip the belt off the pulley and rest it over the socket. This removes the tensioner assembly from the engine, right hand thread and make your toyota car more flexible for delivering good performance. To get effective result by dong this type of service you may go through https://www.remptmotors.com/toyota.html.

Glad I found this page. One of the pulleys was making an intermitent squeal and yesterday the tensioner bolt broke just like you. Girlfirend wanted to buy a new car after I told her I would need to pull the engine to fix it. Glade I dont have to.

I had the same experience on my 2004 Corolla. I searched the web hoping to find a similar case and came out with this article. I just followed the intructions and managed to extract that broken bolt from the engine block and replaced it. I used an angle drill. It took me around 4 hours to do it. Kudos to the author.

Just wondering if anyone has contacted a local high school or trade school to see if possibly they might have a policy of accepting a repair project for a donation offer? I would guess there would be a release of liability form to sign? I would not be worried about handing off to a student, a relative simple repair that a good number of us have faced with the “broken bolt” problem. Just a thought…..

That could work, but you might need to leave the car all semster or bring it back the following semester. Why? Becuase all schools teach automotive in sections, so if the engine repair section is close at hand, you’re in luck. If it is the following spring or weeks later, you have that issue.

Generally you only pay out of pocket – and must obtain and deliver – parts and possibly fluids for replenishment. This again depends onthe section being taught. Always a waiver is signed by you before work can begin. And you are looking at least at the full section time taught, and probably for engine work, have to get the car there at the start of the taught section start date. And, you will be in a cue, so there is no garanteee that your car will be ready at any particular time.

Sad to say that the tensioner on my 2001 Corolla suffered this same problem. Drove it to a mechanic and wants $ 400 to lift the engine, remove broken screw left in the engine, I am 72, female and already have credit card debt, no family and no one to do what you suggest. After seeing your simple cure, I feel like crying not knowing what to do. Car has not been worked on yet. I live in Jacksonville, Florida

You could try – Get a list of as many local auto repair in your areas as possible. – Contact them via email, share your story. – Link them to this post, ask if they can perform this job and the cost associated.

Most honest mechanics would accept to help you get this done without making you lose an arm or leg paying for it. Best of luck!

Thanks a lot for all the great info really help me out big time man had the same problem with my 2005 Pontiac vibe I follow all your instructions and boom got it out thanks to u for that You save me a lot of money and time . Thanks man

Thanks a lot for all the great info really help me out big time man had the same problem with my 2003 Toyota corolla s follow all your instructions and boom got it out thanks to u for that save me a lot of $$$

Same thing happened to my friends corolla…. I figured out that the tension pulley has a set of bearings where the bolt goes through allowing the tensioner to move when the engine is running…. The bearings on my friends tensioner where seized which put a lot of stress on the bolt and snapped it…… The pulley needs to move when engine is running cause the belt extends and contracts during the different RPM ranges

Glad it could help! Now to think of it, I’m impressed that I actually made it home from a 6-mile trip then without killing the car. There was no steering assistant, no a/c, no alternator and ofc no water pump.

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